Teen sisters titter during chilling tape
about coming out the other end of teen- hood. At the time they allegedly drowned their purportedly alcoholic and violent mom in the bathtub, first plying her with Tylenol 3, then the older daughter applying pressure to keep the woman’s head submerged for about four minutes, they were 16 and 17.
It was not until a year later — after a male friend brought certain suspicions to the attention of police — that they were charged with first- degree murder in what had originally been classified as an accidental death, the result of mixing booze and pills. This friend was shortly thereafter provided with a snooping-rigged car, in which he recorded a series of conversations with the sisters. Some of these recordings — capturing claims that the girls killed their mother — have been played in court over the past couple of days.
During one of these chats, after the friend professes to be concerned about what might happen to the girls, the younger sibling tells him to stop worrying because she and her sister are no dummies. “ If we were stupid, we’d have gotten caught.” The thing is, they were “ caught,’’ at least making selfimplicating comments. The irony of that bit of dialogue seemed not lost on the sisters when it was played in court yesterday at this judge- only trial. They looked at each other and . . . tittered. They are an outwardly amiable duo, jolly even, smiling at reporters, giggling when a group of young boys from a private school galumph into court to watch the proceedings, settling comfortably against the pillows each one has brought daily to provide more padding for the bench where the accused sit; a blue pillow for the younger girl, a furry moo-cow designed thing for the older one.
Little sister is 5- foot- 7, with a long willowy neck and short, gelled spiky hair. Big sister is slightly taller, with long hair and a fringe and a pale sprinkling of freckles. Both have retroussé noses. Neither can be identified, nor can their mother, nor even the aforementioned friend — a university religion student — who was in the witness box yesterday.
In the first recording made with the younger sister, she tells this male friend that, yes, she was there when her sister drowned their mother. “ Right behind her. I was the one, like, who mixed mom’s drinks that day.’’ This is an assertion that her sister had consistently denied, when she spoke about the alleged murder to the pal a few weeks previously.
“If you think about it, she wouldn’t randomly tell people everyone that was involved, right?” little sister points out.
Like, there was no way of predicting how people might react when they heard this stuff, she added, including their little brother, a youngster for whom the sisters clearly have immense affection, discussing as they did with the friend plans to put the boy in hockey and such.
“ It sucks,” little sister says on the tape, not being able to tell certain people about what it is alleged they did. And she does have her emotional moments, thinking back to that night. “ I try to block it out. But I still have crying fits and stuff.”
Big sister didn’t like little sister having alone time with this friend. On another occasion, when the guy came over to take all three siblings out to an arcade — proposed as a fun thing for the boy but actually an opportunity to continue his recordings — big sister got ticked off when the friend and little sister disappeared for a short ride before the whole gang set out, even threatened not to join them for the arcade excursion.
Little sister is heard on the tape telling the older girl, on a cell phone, to calm down, they’ll be back in a jiffy. “ Stop being so unreasonable.’’
It was during the ensuing conversation that little sister elaborated, under prodding, about the pills; that she had obtained them from a boyfriend. “We didn’t put anything in there,’’ she corrects the friend when he asked about mixing the pills with the alcohol and why her mother wouldn’t have tasted something odd. “She took them herself. She was already way too drunk to notice anything was wrong.’’
Again, little sister emphasized that she was part of the whole scheme, the planning that went into it and the carrying out of it. “ I was part of it.’’ Reminding the friend that the family’s bathroom was tiny, she added: “ If someone is standing by the tub, there isn’t much room to be helping. So I was, like, two feet behind.’’ The girl does not sound, on this tape, as if she’s bragging about a crime. But she is explaining to the friend that she and her sister are “ realistic people,’’ the offspring of an increasingly erratic mother whose poor parenting skills had “ just been mounting our whole lives.’’
“ And we used that to our advantage. We don’t make f--- ed up mistakes, like really stupid mistakes.’’
Little sister indicates that there are two ways of looking at what these daughters allegedly did to their mom. “ If you look at it one way, I don’t regret it . . . If you look at it another way, then I’m completely devastated. You can’t expect a straight answer.’’ But not for him to worry, she assures her friend.
“Honestly, we know how to take care of ourselves.’’ To an observer, an old Elvis Presley song comes to mind here: Little sister, don’t you do what your big sister done. Rosie DiManno usually appears Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.